Collaborating for quality for UB services
Institute for Administrative Quality Improvement implements first two projects

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The Institute for Administrative Quality Improvement (IAQI), a joint venture between University Services and Student Affairs, has wrapped up its first year of operation with two new programs in place, and several more under consideration for development in year two.

IAQI, which was established to improve the quality of administrative functions, processes and services at UB, will kick off its second year tomorrow with a workshop presentation by Maury Cotter, director of strategic planning and quality improvement at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The new year also will begin with four new members of the IAQI team: Joseph O. Kerr, assistant vice president, Technology Services; Andrea Costantino, staff associate, Student Life; Susan Snyder, associate director, Student Health Center, and Lori A. Chiarilli, media coordinator for resource and technology support services, Student Affairs.

They replace Dan Ryan, director, Career Planning and Placement; Frank Carnevale, medical director, Student Health Center; Beth Rogan, director of resource planning, processing and development, Student Affairs, and Chris Sauciunac, associate director of instructional technology services, Academic Services.

Dennis Black, vice president for student affairs and co-director of the institute with Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner, calls the first year of the institute "without question a great success."

When the group was pulled together last year, Black says, it had two options: spend the first year organizing or spend the first organizing, as well as "getting something done."

Institute members chose the latter course of action, and the group's first two projects have been implemented, beginning this fall.

NEW (New Employee Welcome) is designed to enable campus departments to provide newly hired employees with quick access to various campus services, including UB Card, UB IT name for email/Web access, parking tag, library access, payroll information and benefits information.

Under the NEW system, employees gain access to these services in 3-5 business days, much sooner than under the old system, says Joanne Fletcher, director of administrative services in University Facilities and NEW project manager.

NEW is being implemented this month under a pilot phase—limited to new, full-time hires on state payroll in several departments, she says, adding that campus-wide, state-payroll implementation is expected in Spring 2002.

Expansion to other funding sources, such as Research Foundation, and other types of appointments, such as part-time, will be reviewed and possibly implemented in Fall 2002, Fletcher says.

The second project, On-Campus Jobs, is designed to link students seeking on-campus employment with university hiring units. Using Web-based technology, departments can post non-work-study job openings to a centralized electronic job board. With a "couple of points and clicks," students looking for jobs can search for postings that fit their interests and schedules, says Chad Rung, campus jobs coordinator in the Office of Career Planning and Placement. Students then can contact the hiring units directly, he adds.

Ryan served as project manager.

Black noted that the institute is in the process of evaluating proposals for its next round of projects. Among those being considered are a joint University Services-Student Affairs staff training and development program, a system to put purchase requisitions online, a method of compiling student medical and immunization records electronically, a UB pride campaign and a method to streamline and post online the authorization to recruit and search report procedures.